Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State has invited theatre and musical artistes who are Kwarans by birth, marriage or friendship to come down to the state and celebrate Nigeria at 50.
He gave the invitation to the artistes on Thursday when a delegation of Association of National Theatre Practitioners ANTP led by their Board of Trustees Chairman, Alhaji Adebayo Salami, alias Oga Bello paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Ilorin.
Other actors in attendance are Alhaji Kareem Adepoju, alias Baba Wande, Alhaja Lanre Hassan, alias Iya Awero, Alhaja Akin Aderele, Miss
Olufunke Akindele, Mrs Toyin Adegbola, Lasun Ray, Muyiwa Kelani, Femi Adebayo and a host of other technical crew.
The governor expressed delight in the quest of the artistes to turn Kwara State into a tourist haven. He said, “it is a pride that Nigerians are entertaining the whole world.” He enjoined them as well as other Nigerians to talk and portray the country in the positive way instead of the negative by a few individuals.
He commended them for their personal and collective achievements describing them as great ambassadors who have great roles to play in portraying the image of the country positively through entertainment. He added that their works are better than many of their contemporaries from other parts of the world.
He used the occasion to state that the award of emerging tiger is not referring to him but Kwara state as emerging tiger in Nigerian politics He also highlighted the strides of his administration in agriculture and sports despite the fact that the state is thirty third in terms of resource allocation from the Federation account. He therefore, called on other Nigerians interested in the State to pay a visit and see the transformation that has taken place.
In his address, Alhaji Adebayo Salami stated that, “movie entertainment industry is very important in any state.70per cent of those in entertainment industry are indigenes of Kwara State. Remove them from entertainment, and there would be no entertainment in the country.”
He disclosed that he had a dream to transform Kwara state into a tourist and entertainment haven. He said, “I have ideas of turning Kwara into a tourist centre. Many of my films are shot at Ilorin because Kwara has been peaceful as there is no area boys syndrome in the State.”
He extolled Dr. Bukola Saraki administration for the rapid transformation of the state in areas like cleanliness, road construction, overheadbridge and on going metropolitan square building.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Information and Communication, Mr. Ben Duntoye stated that Nigerian films account for about N19billion to the country’s economy. He added that the choice
